The Everlight Charter

New Stetven: Part 10

The Pestilent Claw: Part 4

9

MAY/11

The group wanted to continue after the cleric, and put an end to her vile magic once and for all, but Alabaster told the group he would not travel any further without praying to his Goddess. Even in the depths of those wretched sewers, Alabaster could feel the radiant warmth of Sarenrae restoring his soul, and burning away the taint of battling fiends so vile. While he said his prayers, Gavrosh and Clash decided to look around in some of the adjoining rooms, so a few of them ventured out leaving Roarsh and Sciferous to guard over the praying Alabaster. One of the adjacent rooms appeared to be a torture room/jail. There was fresh blood on one of the racks, and bloody footprints leading out into another room. They followed the tracks into a store room with various goods and food, the tracks continued on out the door into a giant open cavern. A stairwell led down into the black, and Clash and Gavrosh heard a scream from down below. Even though Gavrosh’s heart urged him to rush to the aid of whomever was in need, they decided to wait for the rest of the group; for they were still weary and battered from the nights constant fighting. Returning to the main hall, they searched the room for anything of worth. Aside from the obvious loot; the throne radiated magic, but was also magically warded. After checking the throne thoroughly, they found a hidden locked compartment, which they asked Dexter to pick for them. He wanted to know what was in it for him, so they began bickering for awhile over the cut. Finally Alabaster finished his prayers and intervened, deciding that he would owe Dexter a favor for this task. He picked the lock and disarmed the trap, opening it to reveal the life savings of the Pestilent Claw, around 10,000 GP. They stashed their gear and Alabaster began to heal the wounds of the group. Once the group had been healed, they all continued to follow the footprints down into the depths. At the bottom of the stairs, the path led into un-worked natural stone. They followed this pathway into a hollowed out chamber that appeared to have been turned into some unholy sacrificial chamber dedicated to the vile Gods. Some hundred feet or so ahead, was a thirty foot in diameter focusing chamber supported by crumbling pillars. In the back on a filthy demonic altar, lay young woman no more than eighteen years old, wracked in pain, her hair curling in the air as if she was being electrocuted. Over her stood the cleric of Lamashtu performing some unholy rite to her vile Goddess. Gavrosh ran forward and let fly an arrow that should have landed square in her back, but just as the arrow was about to pass beyond the perimeter of the focusing chamber, the air crackled with arcs of evil red electricity, destroying the arrow. The rest of the group ran forward and entered the focusing chamber. There was a smell of sulfur and a thick cloud wafted ever so slightly on the floor. The cleric began to rise, levitating up in the air. She began summoning demons to fight the heroes, while she ascended out of their range. The apprentice appeared from the back as her invisibility spell wore off, and she began assaulting the group with spells. Every round the cleric created another illusory double of herself, and then summoned another demon. The fighting waged on and things were looking very grim, as the cleric would cast out waves of negative energy on everyone in the group. While Dexter, Roarsh, Clash and Sciferous engaged one demon, Morzug, Gillus, and Alexite battled another. Alabaster focused on his Goddess’s healing, surging it out onto the group, barely keeping them from death. Finally they felled the last demon and converged on the apprentice, the cleric descending to the floor to give aid. Gavrosh (who up to this point had done little other than inspire his companions) seized the moment to be courageous and rushed to the altar. The altar was covered in tiny faces of demons whose mouths were leaking some smelly fluid, and emanated an aura of profane evil. He looked at the woman on the altar, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but that beauty was temporarily hidden behind a face contorted in pain and agony. He swallowed heavily, remembering what the suit of armor had done to him, and couldn’t even begin to imagine how utterly terrible touching this infinetly more wicked and debased thing could ruin him. He said a quick prayer to Cayden Cailean and heroically pulled her from its vile grasp. The sheer evilness and power would have killed lesser men, but Cayden Caylean must have leant a bit of fortune, for he gritted his teeth, and pushed out the visions of the abyss that flooded his mind. The energy screamed in his head for but a moment of weakness for it to pounce on the Bards soul and rend it to pieces. He fought through it and freed Jessira from its taint. This act angered the priestess so much she screamed in malice and focused everything she had on the Gavrosh. He steeled his mind and pushed away the spell that almost took him, cast by the acolyte. But then she released a savage blast of negative energy that dropped him to the ground, still holding tightly to the Noblewoman. The priestess then moved in for the kill. She wanted more than anything to destroy the Bard who had ruined her plans, she lunged past all of Gavrosh’s friends. In a blink of an eye, they all saw Gavrosh’s last moment on the Material plane. But they said no, and in that blink of an eye, each struck a blow to her that not only ruined the spell, but dropped her bleeding on the floor. The battle was soon won. They healed Gavrosh and the others who had fallen in combat, but poor Jessira couldn’t be woken. Roarsh put everything he had into his swings as he went about demolishing that wicked altar, and soon it was just rubble. The group collected their things and got out of the den, soon finding the secret exit that led out into the countryside of New Stetven. The group soon parted company of Dexter and his men, and set out on the road to Oleg’s.